"Therapists must work with kids with ADHD to help them recognize when an emotion is escalating, to tolerate frustration, to understand why they react the way they do, and to repair relationships after an outburst. These are all learnable skills, and therapy should build them with deliberate, supported practice."
Yes, yes, and yes! Therapy has been so incredibly helpful for this aspect of life for my child with ADHD. She's now 15, and I think she has better mastery over every skill you mentioned than most adults, and all because of therapy.
Love this. And you should definitely see Ragtime ASAP! Joshua Henry playing piano on stage is truly remarkable, the staging is moving and incredible; it's so good!
Great post - thank you. I struggle with the concept of an emotional dysregulation subtype, because it implies that kids representing other subtypes wouldn't need support for emotion regulation. In my (limited) experience, they do. I think this is part of what you're emphasizing at the end.
I agree, and I think it speaks to bigger issues about subtypes and diagnostic categories more broadly. All of these characteristics (attention, emotion regulation, cognitive control, you name it) are dimensional in nature, so can we draw rigid boundaries around any of them? Is there such a clear line that divides regulated from dysregulated? Seems like rather than categorizing subtypes we’d be better served just assessing each individual’s functioning and treating the domains that aren’t serving them.
"Therapists must work with kids with ADHD to help them recognize when an emotion is escalating, to tolerate frustration, to understand why they react the way they do, and to repair relationships after an outburst. These are all learnable skills, and therapy should build them with deliberate, supported practice."
Yes, yes, and yes! Therapy has been so incredibly helpful for this aspect of life for my child with ADHD. She's now 15, and I think she has better mastery over every skill you mentioned than most adults, and all because of therapy.
Love this. And you should definitely see Ragtime ASAP! Joshua Henry playing piano on stage is truly remarkable, the staging is moving and incredible; it's so good!
It’s very validating for all the work I do with kiddos in therapy!
Great post - thank you. I struggle with the concept of an emotional dysregulation subtype, because it implies that kids representing other subtypes wouldn't need support for emotion regulation. In my (limited) experience, they do. I think this is part of what you're emphasizing at the end.
I agree, and I think it speaks to bigger issues about subtypes and diagnostic categories more broadly. All of these characteristics (attention, emotion regulation, cognitive control, you name it) are dimensional in nature, so can we draw rigid boundaries around any of them? Is there such a clear line that divides regulated from dysregulated? Seems like rather than categorizing subtypes we’d be better served just assessing each individual’s functioning and treating the domains that aren’t serving them.